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Lilith (Novel IV)
| Lilith | |
|---|---|
 Lilith Book Cover, written by Paul Cavedaschi | |
| Author(s) | Paul Cavedaschi |
| Publisher | Amazon Digital Services |
| Publication date | February 10, 2013 |
| Media type |
eBook Paperback |
| Length | 202 Pages |
| ASIN | B00BE8SZMW |
For other uses of the word Lilith, see Lilith (disambiguation).
Lilith is a novel written by Paul Cavedaschi. In this work the character Lilith appears.
Overview
- Title: Lilith
- Author: Paul Cavedaschi
- Published By: Amazon Digital Services
- Length: 202 Pages
- Format: eBook & Paperback
- ASIN: B00BE8SZMW
- Publishing Date: February 10, 2013
Plot Summary
Men are bastards. Malcolm Scott, medical doctor, from Bangalow, Northern NSW, couldn’t agree more. After all he is one. At fifty, he has a midlife crisis, and goes on walkabout—no, he does not go bushwhacking in the hot outback of Australia: he surfs internet sex dating sites. He doesn’t just want an affair with a younger woman--that would be too clichéd. He wants to have sex with as many women as possible, to live an erotic life, to escape the humdrum reality of modern civilisation. He wants to live out all the erotic desires he has repressed his whole life. He wants to smash the whole misconception of monogamy altogether--and to do so without his wife finding out.
But online, He finds perhaps more than he bargained for—a woman who calls herself ‘Lilith’ and never shows her face grants him three erotic wishes—he can have whatever his heart desires, providing he can answer one simple question: what is it that women want?
Book Review
The following review was originally published by Tera on her Blog, A Succubi's Tale on March 27, 2016
The first thing I will note is that this work very much has the same tone as the summary given in that the main character Malcolm, is completely unlikable, has no redeeming features, has lost his humanity, cannot make a connection with anyone. What makes this unmistakeable is a single conversation with a patient of his, seeing his thoughts as that unfolds, and knowing that he has a heart of darkness which, no matter what the story accomplishes, will never change.
This then, more than all else which the story touches upon and tells about, serves to set Malcolm’s path in the story, how dark things become, now little love, if any, there is. At times he is amazingly stereotypical in his thinking and actions. As the main character of the story, his approach to things, his thoughts were, for me at least, the most difficult thing to get past. Even when the story finally turned in the direction of Lilith and her mystery, that fell pray to Malcolm’s darkness which consumes all here.
Lilith herself, throughout the work, isn’t really more than a shadow, a voice, a thought. She’s insistent, commanding, in a lot of ways, but in that comes the problem. The Lilith of his work is, in many ways, every bit as dark as Malcolm. She has very few redeeming qualities, and in being so, that adds another layer of indifference that is hard to get past. When she finally appears, fully, even then, at the climax, there’s nothing there to bring all of that came before into some sort of focus and bring a point to the work.
The work, as a whole, is difficult to read for the simple reason that listening to all of Malcolm’s negativity about himself, the world, and all that he once cared about, just gets old very fast. There’s not a whit of positiveness anywhere from any character and this just serves to drive Malcolm onwards into Lilith’s hands. Even where there is an inkling of erotica in the work it cannot overcome the blanket of darkness that exists throughout. There’s a need, a dire one, for a single bit of light to make things hopeful, at least for me, but that doesn’t happen here.
The work is a long read as a result, tending towards having to take breaks from it because the darkness of the characters emotionally is very draining. There is such a thing as being sarcastic of course, even a little dark, but when every single moment of one’s existence comes to that, and nothing more, it’s just sad.
The work does reflect an attitude that has become more prevalent over time, notably with the rise of the internet and dating sites and so on, which take up a good part of Malcolm’s journey. That of there being a barrier between souls, and that making the other not seen to matter so much. When we do so, we ourselves are lessened for it.
The end of the work, when it arrives, hints at much, could have given a lot, but instead, when the truth comes, the reader doesn’t see that, only Malcolm does and we are left with a single word that ends the story. It was disappointing because after all that transpired we are given a rote answer which leads to nothing and in which Malcolm has not changed at all. The answer as well, I don’t particularly agree with, but some might. Nonetheless, I was disappointed that after all of the journey the story is tossed away with a question and no real answers for anyone.
One and a half out of five pitchforks.
Too much internal strife and hurt for my liking, an ending that was a disappointment, and, as a result, one of the most difficult reads I have had in some time…